Department for Transport

West Coast Railway Line

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many train paths an hour will be freed up on the West Coast Main Line when HS2 Phase 1 is operational according to Network Rail's West Coast Main Line Capacity Plus study, and when that study will be published.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: HS2 Phase 1 will add significant additional capacity to the London to West Midlands rail corridor, and this provides an opportunity for the industry to evaluate how best to make use of the released capacity on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line. Network Rail continues to develop the evidence base to support the Capacity Plus study. Train operating companies and freight operating companies, passenger transport executives and local authorities and High Speed 2 Ltd are supporting Network Rail in its ongoing work. Network Rail will use this work to inform the Initial Industry Advice for Control Period 6 which is expected to be published by the end of 2016.

East Coast Railway Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the financial impact that the decision by the Office of Road and Rail to allow competition on the East Coast Main Line will have on the existing Virgin Trains East Coast franchise.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government is currently working to establish a robust estimate of the financial impact, taking full account of the specific details of the Office of Rail and Road's decision. At this stage, that process is incomplete.

Cycling: Delivery Services

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to make third party insurance compulsory for all cyclists who are making deliveries for Deliveroo and other commercial bicycle delivery companies.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We have no plans to make insurance compulsory for cyclists. We encourage all cyclists to take out some form of insurance. In fact, many cyclists do through membership of cycling organisations, such as Cycling UK. Bicycle couriers who work for Deliveroo are self-employed and therefore are still personally liable and responsible for choosing whether or not to have insurance and for ensuring that the insurance is appropriate for them.

East Coast Railway Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the conclusion by the Office of Road and Rail that it will be possible, by 2021, to run 7.5 long distance trains per hour on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in an operationally robust timetable, in the light of the eight interventions to improve the ECML identified in the 2011 Initial Industry Plan by Network Rail at a cost of £500 million, and the later announcement of funding of £240 million.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government understands from work carried out by Network Rail that under the current plans for enhancement works on the route, 7.5 high speed paths would be available from 2021, although the detailed implications for the timetable and train performance have yet to be examined.

East Coast Railway Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Office of Road and Rail has adequately evaluated the impact of inter-city trains on the East Coast Main Line sharing the tracks approaching London with Thameslink services providing 24 trains per hour through the core section.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: No such assessment has been made by the Government. However, in making its own assessment, the Office of Road and Rail were aware of the requirements of the planned Thameslink service.

East Coast Railway Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Office of Road and Rail’s recent proposals for the East Coast Main Line services take fully into account the needs and expectations of passengers using stations south of Doncaster, in particular Newark, Grantham and Lincoln.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) has granted Virgin Trains East Coast’s application to run additional services on the East Coast Mainline. It will be for Network Rail and the relevant train operators to work together through the normal industry processes, under the oversight of the ORR, to ensure that the future mix of services provides an effective level of connectivity to meet the needs of passengers from these and other stations on the route.

East Coast Railway Line

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the East Coast Main Line infrastructure is adequate to provide a robust and reliable inter-city service, and of any modifications required in order for it to do so.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Her Majesty’s Government has not undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of the infrastructure to operate the planned service. It will be for Network Rail and the relevant train operators to work together to ensure that the East Coast Main Line infrastructure is adequate to provide a robust and reliable inter-city service, making use of the normal industry processes.

Railways: Kent

Lord Condon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the disruption to rail passengers in Kent on 6 June, what action they are taking to ensure a more reliable service for rail passengers travelling between Kent and London terminals.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Hon Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Claire Perry MP, as Rail Minister, chairs a monthly meeting with Network Rail, train operators in the South East, Transport Focus, and Department for Transport officials. This group monitors performance and passenger experience and it is absolutely committed to identifying improvements and ensuring rail passengers see the benefits of these improvements being delivered. Network Rail and Southeastern both need to show much greater improvement in their ability to fix faults quickly and communicate with their passengers more effectively. The Department will ensure that lessons are learned from the disruption in Kent that day.

Pedicabs

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 June (HL342), what regulations are in place to ensure the health and safety of paying passengers outside London; and who is responsible for that function.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: As rickshaws (pedicabs) outside London are regulated as taxis (Hackney Carriages), it is down to each local authority to set the licensing conditions, standards and by-laws for both driver and vehicle. This includes ensuring the health and safety of all travelling passengers, for instance through policies on vehicle type and safety features. This function is the responsibility of the local licensing authority.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Business: Ownership

Baroness Burt of Solihull: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan regularly to collect gender-disaggregated business ownership data.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills regularly collects gender-disaggregated business ownership data on the annual Longitudinal Small Business Survey. This reports on whether small and medium-sized businesses are more than 50% owned by women.

Ministry of Justice

Personal Injury: Compensation

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the ban on referral fees in insurance claiming has taken effect, and whether they have raised concerns with the Solicitors' Regulation Authority over its role in enforcing compliance.

Lord Faulks: The payment and receipt of referral fees by legal services providers in personal injury claims is banned under Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 which was implemented on 1 April 2013. This Ministry of Justice is in regular contact with the regulators of legal services providers, including the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, about issues relating to enforcement.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thames Tideway Tunnel

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the additional cost of £70 to £80 per annum, at 2011 prices and based on a 50 per cent probability of cost overruns, to all Thames Water customers of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, as quoted on page 83 of the prospectus of Thames Water Utilities Cayman Finance Ltd, represents good value for money for the consumer.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The impact of the Thames Tideway Tunnel on Thames Water customer bills is expected to be £20-£25 per year (at 2015 prices) by the mid-2020s. This is about a third of the initial estimate of £70-£80 per year in 2011, assessed at an early development stage of the project, and represents good value for money for customers. It follows the successful competition by Thames Water Utilities Ltd, completed in August 2015, to procure an Infrastructure Provider to finance and deliver the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The Thames Water Utilities Cayman Finance Ltd prospectus quoted by the Noble Lord is dated 26 June 2015 and so was prior to this procurement.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Lord Willoughby de Broke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Rural Payments Agency expects to complete Basic Payment Scheme payments to qualifying farmers during the payments window ending in June 2016.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Rural Payments Agency continues to make the remaining top up BPS payments to those that received a bridging BPS payment and anticipates completing this work by the end of June 2016.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Coal Fired Power Stations: China and India

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many new coal-fired plants are planned by China and India over the next decade.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Table 7.2 of the International Energy Agency’s 2015 World Energy Outlook projects the following demand for coal under the Agency’s New Policy Scenario:   20132025China2,9322,957India488812World5,6135,874 Figures in Mtce – million tonnes of coal equivalent.

International Climate Fund

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent on the International Climate Fund in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2014–15.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Spend under the International Climate Fund by the Department for International Development, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is as follows: 2011-12 - £427m2012-13 - £548m2013-14 - £788m2014-15 - £911m

Climate Change: Developing Countries

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Clean Technology Funds financial eligibility threshold of $200 per tonne of CO2 equivalent abated represents good value for UK taxpayers in the context of global mitigation effects.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: In order to ensure value for money, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) Investment Criteria (2009) has six objectives, of which cost-effectiveness is one. The other objectives are Potential for GHG Emissions Savings, Demonstration Potential at Scale, Development Impact, Implementation Potential and Additional Costs and Risk Premium. The financial eligibility threshold of $200 per tonne of CO2 equivalent is in place to safeguard value for money. This threshold was based on the International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 Report, as the lower-end estimate of the marginal incentive needed to achieve a reduction of global GHG emissions to 50% by 2050. The average total investment cost per tonne achieved in the CTF is $39.60 (£26.40), which is significantly below this threshold. More information is available in the document Climate Investment Funds (2009), Clean Technology Fund Investment Criteria for public sector operations. 



Climate Investment Funds (2009), CTF
(PDF Document, 779.66 KB)

Green Climate Fund

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Department of Energy and Climate Change plans to spend on the Green Climate Fund in each financial year from 2015–16 to 2017–18.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The Department of Energy and Climate Change contributed £80 million to the Green Climate Fund during the 2015-2016 financial year. DECC plans to contribute £80 million in FY 2016-2017 and £80 million in FY 2017-2018, dependent on the financial needs of the Green Climate Fund.

Climate Change: Developing Countries

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they still regard the risk of a funding shortfall in the Clean Technology Fund as "high", and whether contingency funds are in place in the case of premature sunsetting of the Climate Investment Funds.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Administrative Unit and Multilateral Development Banks have reviewed the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) pipeline to identify projects that are no longer likely to go ahead and have assessed the impact of this on the expected shortfall. A paper on this will be presented at the forthcoming June 2016 CIF Trust Fund Committee meetings. A decision on when the CIF will review its sunset clause is expected to be made at the June CIF Trust Fund Committee meetings.

Department of Health

Fluoride: Drinking Water

Earl Baldwin of Bewdley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 28 October 2013 (WA 213) and 5 December 2013 (WA 60–1), whether they will now answer the question why Public Health England, in comparing the percentages with dental fluorosis in fluoridated populations published by McGrady et al in 2012 with those from the York systematic review, cited small categories of fluorosis which were not found in the York review, but omitted the statistically comparable total-fluorosis figures of 55 per cent in fluoridated Newcastle against 48 per cent worldwide in the York review in 2000.

Lord Prior of Brampton: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 17 June 2016.The correct answer should have been:

Most dental fluorosis in England is mild and unlikely to be of any concern from a cosmetic perspective. When discussing the public health impact of this condition, it is useful to distinguish between mild to moderate dental fluorosis and more severe fluorosis which is likely to be of concern from a cosmetic perspective, rather than overall levels. The study described in the paper by McGrady et al in 2012 photographed teeth in order to reducing potential examiner bias, a key recommendation of the York Review. The results might therefore not be directly comparable to the results of studies using older methodology. Public Health England’s 2014 water fluoridation health monitoring report was published subsequent to the responses given on 28 October 2013 and 5 December 2013 and included a section on dental fluorosis, drawing upon the 2012 report by McGrady et al. A copy of Water Fluoridation Health Monitoring Report for England 2014 is attached. The report displayed the individual categories of dental fluorosis that were used in the 2012 report by McGrady et al, including the proportion who showed no signs of dental fluorosis in the two cities studied. This is shown in the following table.Descriptive data for fluorosis total-fluorosis (TF) scores by city  Cityp-value (probability value) Newcastle (fluoridated)Manchester (non-fluoridated) Number%Number%Fluorosis TF Score 041045%63873%P > less than 0.0001135539%20924%2799%162%3536%41%481%00%510.1%20.2%Total906 869  The probability values show that levels of dental fluorosis overall in fluoridated Newcastle were higher than in non-fluoridated Manchester. The proportion of children with dental fluorosis (TF score >0) was 55% in Newcastle compared to 27% in Manchester. Fluorosis recorded at a level of TF3, considered to be mild or mild to moderate, was 6% in Newcastle and 1% in Manchester. The prevalence of higher scores (TF4 or greater) was very low in both cities. The methodology described in the 2012 paper by McGrady et al may give higher estimates of dental fluorosis compared to the direct examination by a dentist used in other surveys. The results give further assurance that there are low levels of dental fluorosis which might be of concern from a cosmetic perspective in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. 



Water Fluoridation Monitoring Report
(PDF Document, 1.5 MB)

Lord Prior of Brampton: Most dental fluorosis in England is mild and unlikely to be of any concern from a cosmetic perspective. When discussing the public health impact of this condition, it is useful to distinguish between mild to moderate dental fluorosis and more severe fluorosis which is likely to be of concern from a cosmetic perspective, rather than overall levels. The study described in the paper by McGrady et al in 2012 photographed teeth in order to reducing potential examiner bias, a key recommendation of the York Review. The results might therefore not be directly comparable to the results of studies using older methodology. Public Health England’s 2014 water fluoridation health monitoring report was published subsequent to the responses given on 28 October 2013 and 5 December 2013 and included a section on dental fluorosis, drawing upon the 2012 report by McGrady et al. A copy of Water Fluoridation Health Monitoring Report for England 2014 is attached. The report displayed the individual categories of dental fluorosis that were used in the 2012 report by McGrady et al, including the proportion who showed no signs of dental fluorosis in the two cities studied. This is shown in the following table.Descriptive data for fluorosis total-fluorosis (TF) scores by city  Cityp-value (probability value) Newcastle (fluoridated)Manchester (non-fluoridated) Number%Number%Fluorosis TF Score 041045%63873%P > less than 0.0001135539%20924%2799%162%3536%41%481%00%510.1%20.2%Total906 869  The probability values show that levels of dental fluorosis overall in fluoridated Newcastle were higher than in non-fluoridated Manchester. The proportion of children with dental fluorosis (TF score >0) was 55% in Newcastle compared to 27% in Manchester. Fluorosis recorded at a level of TF3, considered to be mild or mild to moderate, was 6% in Newcastle and 1% in Manchester. The prevalence of higher scores (TF4 or greater) was very low in both cities. The methodology described in the 2012 paper by McGrady et al may give higher estimates of dental fluorosis compared to the direct examination by a dentist used in other surveys. The results give further assurance that there are low levels of dental fluorosis which might be of concern from a cosmetic perspective in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. 



Water Fluoridation Monitoring Report
(PDF Document, 1.5 MB)

Fluoride: Drinking Water

Earl Baldwin of Bewdley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement in the Executive Summary of the Water fluoridation: Health monitoring report for England 2014 that there is "no evidence of a difference in the rate of hip fractures between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas", what account Public Health England took of the article "Adding fluoride to water supplies" by Cheng KK et al in the British Medical Journal of 7 October 2007, in which the authors state that if the population of England had an average lifetime exposure of ≥0.9 ppm fluoride in drinking water a modest association between fluoride and hip fracture, if such exists, would have a less than one in five chance of being detected despite potentially causing more than 10,000 excess fractures a year.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The possible effects of fluoride in water have been extensively studied and reviewed over the last 50 years. In the United Kingdom the most recent review prior to the publication of Public Health England’s (PHE) Health Monitoring Report was undertaken by the National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination based at the University of York and published in 2000. The Medical Research Council subsequently, in 2002, reported to the Department of Health its advice on future research priorities. The US National Research Council reported in 2006 and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council reported in 2007. PHE drew on these authoritative sources in selecting a number of indicators of health conditions for inclusion in the 2014 water fluoridation health monitoring report. The chosen indicators of various health conditions were selected based on the evidence base, theoretical plausibility, potential impact on population health, the quality and availability of data, and the validity of the indicator. The selected indicators will be reviewed for future reports in the light of emerging evidence. The article by KK Cheng et al did not provide any new evidence regarding hip fractures, but comments on the chance of detecting an increased risk of hip fracture for a speculated odds ratio of 1.2 in a previous study by Hiller et al. 2000. This only refers to a single study and it is important to consider the overall weight of evidence.The overall weight of evidence and the consensus of opinion from authoritative reviews do not indicate that a drinking water concentration of 1 part fluoride per million parts of water presents an increased risk of hip fracture. A more recent review of potential health effects from water fluoridation was published in 2015 by the Irish Research Board. The report concluded that a summary of the existing literature indicates that the relationship between fluoride in drinking water and bone health is inconsistent, with no definitive proof of protective or harmful effects.